My personal blog about international trade, public policy & politics, pop culture, and stuff that probably interests only me

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Wednesday Quick Hits

A few housekeeping items to note today:

US to Canada: "Dude, don't sweat that silly anti-NAFTA legislation (H.R. 4759)." Per the Toronto Sun: "U.S. Ambassador David Jacobson says a move by a bi-party group of U.S. congressmen to repeal the North American Free Trade Agreement is nothing to worry about.... 'I believe that in the NAFTA agreement, every five years, there is a possibility of withdrawal,' said Jacobson. 'Every five years we go through this and every five years there are a handful of members of congress that support this initiative but I don’t think it’s going anywhere.'"

Canada Right Back: "Dude, No S**t." Per the CBC: "Fresh off a recent skirmish over "Buy American," some Canadian cabinet ministers are expressing confidence that a new protectionist push from some U.S. politicians won't succeed.... [International Trade Minister Peter] Van Loan said NAFTA was important for job growth and development both in Canada and in the United States, 'and as such we’re optimistic that [the bill] will not come to pass.'"

Reuters Columnist: "Hey, have you noticed that ObamaCare is, like, totally screwing US trade policy?" I enjoy Reuters columnist James Pethokoukis' work a lot, but he's a little slow on this story. (See, e.g., my discussion of this very serious problem from back in October.) But hey, I'm not complaining. Really. At least Pethokoukis is talking about it at all. That's a lot more than I could say about most mainstream economics columnists (outside of the Wall Street Journal, natch).

WSJ: "This Mexican trucking dispute, and those $2.4B in retaliatory tariffs on US exports, are a real mess!" Per (of course) the WSJ: "The Obama Administration's top trade negotiator said the U.S. was working quickly to resolve a damaging trade spat with Mexico, one of several obstacles to the president's goal of doubling U.S. exports within five years.... [wait for it... wait for it]... He didn't specify what measures the White House was taking to resolve the Mexico issue."